Why Hebrew is harder to understand than to read
Written Hebrew leaves out most vowels, so the text on the page underdetermines the sound — you have to already know a word to read it correctly, which makes reading a poor route into listening. Meanwhile spoken Hebrew moves fast, compresses heavily, and is full of colloquial forms that formal study never introduces. Hearing the audio and the text together is unusually valuable in Hebrew, because each fills in what the other omits.
How Lingush works
1. Pick a real Hebrew podcast
News, current affairs and conversation — the same audio native speakers listen to. Nothing is re-recorded, slowed down, or scripted for learners.
2. Listen one sentence at a time
Each sentence plays on its own and loops until you have it. This is the part ordinary podcast apps cannot do, and it is the difference between listening and drowning.
3. Check what you missed, word by word
The English translation is aligned phrase by phrase and highlights along with the audio, so you see exactly which words you heard and which ones went past you.
4. Ten minutes a day
Listening improves through frequency, not session length. A streak and daily picks keep it to something you actually repeat.
Why learn Hebrew?
Around 9 million speakers
The everyday language of Israel, and a living language reconstructed within a century.
Unvoweled script needs the audio
Because vowels are usually unwritten, hearing a word and seeing it are complementary in a way they are not in most languages.
Root-based vocabulary compounds
Three-letter roots generate large word families, so each root learned pays off repeatedly.
Strong podcast culture
Israeli daily news and interview podcasts are prolific, current and well produced.
Common questions
Do I need to read Hebrew script first?
Yes, at least well enough to follow along. The alphabet is 22 letters and takes a few days; without it the aligned transcript cannot do its job. Once you can decode the letters, listening is what teaches you which vowels the script left out.
How does Lingush help me understand spoken Hebrew?
You listen to real Hebrew audio one sentence at a time. Each sentence is shown in Hebrew with an English translation aligned phrase by phrase, so as the audio plays you can see which words you just heard. You can replay a sentence until it clicks, then move on. Nothing is slowed down or re-recorded — the audio is what native speakers actually said.
Do I need to already know some of the language?
Some, yes. Lingush is built for the stage after the basics: you have a few hundred words and can read simple sentences, but native speech still goes past too fast to follow. If you are starting from zero, use a beginner course first and come back once you can read a short article.
Is it free?
You can listen without an account. A free account adds progress tracking, a daily streak, favourites, and picks up where you stopped.
Start with one episode
Ten minutes of real Hebrew, one sentence at a time. You will miss things. That is what makes it work.
Start listening — free